The experience of the sexual abuse crisis, hopefully, will "help us become more humble, less arrogant and bossy in our ministry," Bishop Charles Scicluna told members of the Canon Law Society of America on Oct. 16 at their annual meeting in Sacramento, Calif.

He described sexual abuse as "an egregious betrayal of sacred trust" that "has the power to stint the normal development of people" and "cause depression, post-traumatic disorders, loss of self-esteem and, most tragically, loss of faith." It "is an expression of the anti-Gospel, a betrayal of the message of compassion and love."

Scicluna began working as the first promoter of justice (roughly equivalent to chief prosecutor) at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in May 2002, when a "tsunami" of abuse cases hit his office. As an official of the doctrinal congregation, Scicluna conducted the investigation of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ. Despite opposition from some curial cardinals but with the backing of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Scicluna pursued the investigation until Maciel was suspended from priestly ministry in 2006. Scicluna also reviewed hundreds of case files of priests who eventually were dismissed from ministry for sexual abuse. He left the congregation in 2012 to become an auxiliary bishop in Malta.

The response to the sex abuse crisis

While the bishop defended the "wisdom and courage" of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI in dealing with the crisis, he said that in developing Vatican policy and procedures, "the discussions were lengthy and at times chaotic." Even the decision to include sexual abuse of minors as a grave crime "had its friends and its adversaries" in the Vatican, he said.

Even when the priest is dismissed from the clerical state, the church "never throws him away" because that could lead to "further reoffending, further crimes, further harm." The priest "remains a member of the faithful called, as we all are, to conversion and grace."

Matthew 25:40 (Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.) and Matthew 25:44 (Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.) make it abundantly clear to me that Our Lord will view how we treated each other as proxy for how we would have treated Him in person.

So, He will view those who abused children as if they abused Him as a defenseless child.

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